Newsletter Tuesdays: A series about doing more with your donor newsletter.
What should be in your donor newsletter? Here are some common things that work well:
- Stories of transformation, victory, and change, with the donor’s part in making it happen emphasized. This is the main ingredient of any donor newsletter. Everything else is optional, but this kind of story is not!
- Photo essays. If you have great photos that tell those stories of transformation, do it with photos too!
- Message from the president. You may want to give your organization leader the visibility of having a “column” in the newsletter. Just make sure the column is truly donor-focused material, not just a grab bag of what the boss wants to say. Ideally, this message should tell yet another story and thank the donor for making it happen.
- Donor profiles. Introduce donors to other donors, talking about their connection with the organization and why they give. It’s social proof that cool people are donors! But don’t use this to showcase your mega-donors. That just tells all you other donors they are less important, maybe not even needed.
- Other calls to action. What else would you like donors to do? Contact you about putting your org in their will. Becoming monthly givers. Giving through a donor advised fund. Contacting City Hall about an important issue. These are all valuable but secondary things to include.
